Chapter 12
The girl’s crying continued.
I gripped the phone.
“Who is she?”
Vanessa laughed.
“Always the nanny.”
“Vanessa, who is the child?”
Detective Harris was already tracing the call.
Adrian stood three feet away, white with fear.
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“Someone who shouldn’t have been snooping.”
“Is she hurt?”
“That depends on you.”
My stomach twisted.
“Tell me what you want.”
“You.”
Adrian shook his head violently.
I kept my eyes on Harris.
“Why?”
“You ruined my life.”
“No.”
The word came out before I could stop it.
Vanessa went silent.
“You did that yourself.”
Adrian stared at me.
So did Harris.
Then Vanessa’s voice sharpened.
“You think you’re brave because Adrian protects you?”
“I think you were caught on camera hurting your son.”
“MY son.”
“Then act like his mother.”
The line went completely silent.
I wondered if I had pushed too far.
Then the girl cried again.
“Please…”
My heart broke.
“Vanessa.”
“What?”
“Don’t hurt her.”
“Come alone.”
“Where?”
She laughed.
“You think I’m stupid?”
I didn’t answer.
“I’ll call again.”
The line disconnected.
Harris immediately started issuing orders.
The trace had bounced through multiple towers.
No exact location.
But they narrowed it to an area northwest of Dallas.
Then a missing-child report came in.
Twelve-year-old Emma Reed.
Thomas Reed’s daughter.
The same little girl Maria had once saved beside the pool.
My blood went cold.
Vanessa had gone back for her.
Emma now lived with her maternal aunt outside Denton.
She had disappeared from a private school pickup line less than an hour earlier.
A witness saw a woman calling her name.
Emma approached because she recognized her.
Vanessa.
Adrian looked sick.
“This is about Thomas.”
Harris nodded.
“And leverage.”
“Why Emma?”
“Maybe because she can identify Vanessa’s past behavior.”
I remembered Maria’s statement.
Emma had been six years old when Vanessa allegedly drugged her.
At twelve, she might remember.
Vanessa was trying to erase another witness.
Again.
I stood.
“I’ll go.”
Adrian turned.
“No.”
“If she calls—”
“No.”
“Emma is twelve.”
“I know.”
“She’s alone with Vanessa.”
“I know.”
“Then stop saying no like that solves anything.”
His face hardened.
“I am not sending you to a woman who said she wants you dead.”
“You aren’t sending me.”
Harris stepped between us.
“Nobody is going anywhere alone.”
I looked at him.
“Then what?”
“We use the next call to get a location.”
“And if she refuses?”
“We keep her talking.”
The phone rang forty minutes later.
I answered immediately.
“Vanessa.”
“Drive.”
My heart pounded.
“Where?”
“Do exactly what I say.”
She gave me instructions.
A highway.
An exit.
A gas station.
Harris nodded.
They were ready.
I drove an unmarked SUV.
A transmitter was hidden under my jacket.
Police vehicles followed at a distance.
Adrian stayed behind with Noah.
He hated every second.
Before I left, he grabbed my hand.
“Come back.”
I looked at him.
“I plan to.”
His eyes filled.
“Rachel.”
“I know.”
I didn’t let him finish.
Because if he had said anything emotional, I might not have gotten into the car.
Vanessa called again when I reached the gas station.
“Throw your phone away.”
My pulse jumped.
“I can’t hear your instructions without it.”
“Not that phone.”
I looked around.
A trash can stood beside the pumps.
“She knows you’re monitored,” Harris said through my hidden earpiece.
Vanessa laughed.
“Take off the wire too.”
I froze.
“Rachel?”
How did she know?
“Take it off.”
Harris spoke quietly.
“Do not comply.”
Vanessa said, “There’s a black sedan across the road. Get in.”
I looked.
A car waited outside an abandoned strip mall.
No visible driver.
My instincts screamed.
“I want to hear Emma.”
Vanessa went silent.
“Put her on.”
A moment later, Emma’s frightened voice came through.
“Please help me.”
“Emma, are you hurt?”
Vanessa grabbed the phone back.
“Get in the car.”
I started walking.
Police tactical units moved closer out of sight.
The sedan door was unlocked.
Inside was another phone.
It rang.
I answered.
“Drive north.”
I followed the directions.
Ten minutes.
Then twenty.
Fields replaced buildings.
My mouth went dry.
The phone rang again.
“Turn onto the dirt road.”
I did.
An old farmhouse appeared ahead.
No cars.
No people.
“Stop.”
I stopped.
“Get out.”
I opened the door.
Harris whispered in my earpiece.
“Teams positioned.”
I walked toward the farmhouse.
The front door opened.
Vanessa stood inside.
She looked different.
No makeup.
Hair pulled back.
A gun in her hand.
My legs almost stopped working.
Behind her, Emma sat tied to a kitchen chair.
Her face was wet with tears.
Julian stood near the window.
He had a second gun.
I suddenly understood.
They knew about the wire because they expected one.
Vanessa smiled.
“Take off your jacket.”
I hesitated.
She pointed the gun toward Emma.
“Now.”
I removed it.
The transmitter fell to the porch.
Julian stepped outside.
He crushed the device beneath his shoe.
My connection to police disappeared.
Vanessa smiled.
“Now we’re alone.”
I stepped inside.
Emma looked at me.
“I’m here.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“How touching.”
“What do you want?”
She closed the door.
“You’re going to write a statement.”
“What statement?”
“That you lied.”
I stared at her.
“You’re going to say you altered the nursery footage.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You’re going to say Adrian paid you.”
“No one will believe it.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Then Emma dies first.”
My heart pounded.
Julian placed paper on the table.
A typed confession.
I read it.
It claimed I had been having an affair with Adrian for a year.
That we planned to remove Vanessa.
That I staged the iron scene.
That Adrian manipulated security footage.
The lies were ridiculous.
But scandal did not need to be believable.
It only needed confusion.
Vanessa moved closer.
“Sign.”
I looked at Emma.
She was shaking.
Then I looked at Julian.
He was watching the window.
Nervous.
Police were somewhere outside.
He knew it too.
I picked up the pen.
Vanessa smiled.
“That’s better.”
I lowered the pen.
Then I asked, “Did Celeste make Thomas sign something too?”
Julian’s face changed.
Vanessa’s smile vanished.
“What?”
“Before he died.”
I looked directly at her.
“Did your mother make him confess to something?”
“Shut up.”
“Or did you?”
“Sign the paper.”
“Thomas changed his beneficiary, didn’t he?”
Julian snapped, “Vanessa, stop talking.”
That told me I had hit something.
I continued.
“He protected Emma from you.”
Vanessa raised the gun.
“You know nothing about Thomas.”
“I know he saw you.”
Her face twisted.
“I loved him.”
“You tried to drug his daughter.”
“She ruined everything!”
Emma flinched.
Vanessa realized what she had said.
I did too.
And even though my transmitter was broken, I prayed police had another microphone close enough.
Emma stared at her.
“You did that?”
Vanessa turned toward the girl.
“You were a spoiled little brat.”
Emma’s face changed.
Memory.
Recognition.
“You gave me the pink medicine.”
Julian swore.
“Stop.”
But Emma kept staring.
“You told me it was candy.”
Vanessa stepped toward her.
I moved between them.
“Don’t touch her.”
The gun turned toward me.
“You really can’t help yourself.”
“No.”
I swallowed.
“I can’t.”
For one terrible second, I thought she would shoot me.
Then glass shattered.
A flash exploded through the room.
Police came through two doors at once.
I dropped.
Emma screamed.
Vanessa fired.
The bullet hit the ceiling.
Julian tried to run.
Officers tackled him.
Vanessa swung the gun toward Emma.
I threw myself into her.
We hit the floor.
The gun slid away.
Three officers pulled Vanessa off me.
She screamed my name.
Not words.
Just my name.
Over and over.
I crawled toward Emma.
“I’ve got you.”
Her whole body shook.
I untied her hands.
Vanessa was dragged toward the door in handcuffs.
She looked at Emma.
Then me.
Then suddenly laughed.
“You think this is over?”
Detective Harris entered.
“Yes,” he said.
Vanessa turned.
Harris held up a small device.
A microphone.
Hidden under Emma’s chair.
The police had placed it there before Vanessa arrived.
The farmhouse belonged to an undercover operation.
They had identified it from the first call and installed surveillance before I reached the gas station.
Vanessa’s face went white.
Harris looked at her.
May you like
“We heard everything.”
For the first time since the nursery camera exposed her, Vanessa had nothing to say.
